Shocked that companies and mutual funds would invest OPM (Other People's Money) in high-risk investments, the Shocked Investor was originally on a mission to find out if our money ended up in these dubious instruments. This blog now also discusses other financial topics, such as straddles, options, gold, natural gas, agri/food stocks, and the collapse of the US Dollar.

Listen on Podcast

Google Friends

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The media reports today that Japan has entered into a recession. Amazing. As if any of this was any surprise.

Its GDP shrank 3.7%, 'more than estimated in the first quarter". The country has a shrinking population and suffered a devastating earthquake, and that is more than estimated?

Bloomberg: "Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 3.7 percent in the three months through March, following a revised 3 percent drop in the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 1.9 percent drop.

The March disaster hit an economy already weighed down by years of deflation and subdued consumer spending, and slashed profits at companies including Toyota Motor Corp. as factories were shut. The economy, now the smallest size since 1991 unadjusted for price changes, may shrink further this quarter before rebounding later in 2011 as reconstruction kicks in".